As is generally well known uncontrolled humidity in rooms, bathrooms, basements and the like confines leads to their deteriorating conditions. Effects of uncontrolled humidity are particularly felt in the bathrooms where the moist air condenses on the various surfaces generally leading to mold and mildew growth. Thus, rooms, particularly bathrooms, must be properly ventilated in order to control humidity levels. In bathroom applications, an exhaust ceiling fan is employed for ventilation and is generally manually operated by way of a wall switch. However, it has been found that often the fan is either not operating for a sufficient period of time either due to the user forgetting to actuate the switch or prematurely deactivating it or is left running for a longer than required period of time, if the user forgets to turn it off, thus wasting electric energy.
It is also generally known that the exhaust fan in the bathroom is employed for removing unpleasant human waste odors and is usually operable while the user occupies the bathroom. The exhaust fan is generally turned off when the user leaves the bathroom. However, it has been found that often odor remains in the bathroom after the exhaust fan has been turned off.
Prior to the conception and design of the present invention, efforts have been made to alleviate problems of manually controlling the exhaust fan. U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,570 issued to Acker discloses a ventilation controller that includes at least one humidity sensor for controlling the humidity of a room. The ventilation controller incorporates a housing sized and shaped to replace, or be placed in, a standard electrical junction box. Circuitry in the controller receives data from the sensor(s). The controller automatically switches on power to an exhaust fan when either the humidity exceeds a manually set humidity level and/or a rapid increase in humidity is observed. When a plurality of sensors is employed, the humidity level from a first sensor is compared by logic circuitry to the humidity levels detected at a reference sensor(s). When the humidity at the first sensor exceeds the humidity at the reference sensor(s), the ventilation controller switches on power to the exhaust fan. When the humidity at the first sensor falls below the humidity at the reference sensor(s), the ventilation controller switches off power to the exhaust fan. Teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,570 are incorporated into this document by reference thereto.
In U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0213000 published on Sep. 28, 2008, Kimble et al. discloses an automatic control system for an exhaust fan of a room, such as a bathroom, having a water dispensing conduit is disclosed. The system includes a control module that controls delivery of electricity to the exhaust fan to activate and deactivate the exhaust fan, and a sensor suitable for mounting on the water dispensing conduit. The sensor senses temperature of the water dispensing conduit and when a temperature increases (due to hot water flowing though the water dispensing conduit) above a predetermined temperature value is reached on the water dispensing conduit, the sensor transmits a control signal to the control module. Upon receipt of the control signal, the control module activates the exhaust fan for a user selectable time period. The control module may also include a timer circuit that provides electricity to the fan for a predetermined time period after temperature falls below the predetermined temperature value. The predetermined time period may be a variable time period selectable by a user.
However, it has been found that additional improvements in controlling humidity and disposing of unpleasant human waste odors are required.